LB Malik Bryant Commits to Miami Over Florida Gators
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The Florida Gators once again missed out on a big-time linebacker recruit with Malik Bryant's pledge to Miami on Wednesday.
In a seemingly tight recruitment that came down to the wire, Bryant elected to head for South Beach to team up with the talented group of commits Mario Cristobal has assembled in his first cycle at the helm for the Hurricanes.
The Gators issued a late push for the talented Jones High School (Orlando, Fla.) prospect that ultimately played a role in Bryant delaying his commitment from the set date of July 23. Giving him something to think about, Florida's attempt to entice Bryant to continue his football career in Gainesville closed a seemingly significant gap between them and the Hurricanes in a hurry.
However, following that delay, Miami was able to regain the lead they had lost, turning what was considered a 50/50 battle on Saturday back into their favor. It ultimately resulted in the Gators losing out on yet another top off-ball linebacker prospect moving forward.
Florida's woes in this area have started to create room for concern as the top in-state recruits on their board continue to commit elsewhere, with the likes of Jacksonville (Fla.) product Grayson Howard pledging to South Carolina, IMG Academy's Jordan Hall taking his talents to Michigan State, Tampa Catholic's Lewis Carter heading to Oklahoma and others going different directions.
Bryant becomes the latest documented miss on the trail for linebacker coach Jay Bateman.
With Florida starting to run out of options, Bateman will likely have to circle back on prospects that have spurned him once before in hopes of reconciling his first recruiting class at UF by flipping talent from their current commitments.
If not, the Gators could be looking at a unit that lacks adequate depth in numbers after Ventrell Miller and Amari Burney likely depart following the 2022 season.
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